PHI news
The article presents strategies of how Durham County Department of Public Health operationalized equity into multiple phases of its COVID-19 response through infrastructure changes and how to apply these methods to future public health emergencies to better serve vulnerable populations. This response relied upon robust data collection of demographic data to identify inequities. Infrastructure changes included standing up multiple COVID-19 Task Forces (Homeless, Community, Food Security, African American) and Strike Teams (Long-Term Care Facility, Clusters) targeting vulnerable populations; placing testing sites in targeted locations; collaborating with multisector and community partners for feedback; and providing Health Ambassadors for in-person dissemination of COVID-19 information. The paper reviews results from these interventions and lessons learned.
Resource Details
- Population: American Indian|Asian|Black or African American|Hispanic, Latino, or Latinx|People Experiencing Homelessness
- Geographic Areas of Implementation: Urban
- Setting/Context of Implementation: Community|Workplace
- Topics of Practice: Contact Tracing|Data Collection and Analysis|Organizational Change/ Development|Outreach/ Education/ Communications|Testing|Vaccination
- Outcomes of Interest: Capacity Building|Improve Data Infrastructure|Improve Organizational Infrastructure|Partnership Building|Reduction of Health Disparities
- Level of Evidence: Promising
- Tools or Materials Included in Resource: No
- Social Determinants of Health: Economic Stability|Healthcare Access and Quality|Social and Community Context
- Outside of US: No